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In mid-October 2023, BHS Corrugated launched an M2P® Operations partnership with a German customer. The aim was to sustainably improve the customer's production processes and significantly increase its productivity.
The customer was facing various challenges due to age-related fluctuation, a lack of available qualified personnel and an unfavorable configuration of its corrugator (“mixing machine”: Dry End - competitor, Wet End - BHS Corrugated) with a small intermediate storage area, as well as the advanced age of the corrugator. On the one hand, technical availability was to be improved, production processes optimized and efficiency increased in order to reduce costs. On the other hand, personnel needed to be trained and educated in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications, as process-related stoppages of the corrugator were a significant obstacle, accounting for around 45% of stoppage times and affecting productivity. In addition, short-term staff shortages regularly threatened to jeopardize production planning by causing shift absences.
In collaboration with BHS Corrugated, an approximately four-month journey to optimize the corrugator and production processes and with intensive on-the-job training began in mid-October 2023. With the well-known M2P® program, BHS Corrugated not only offered expertise in the area of corrugator maintenance, but also a tailor-made operations coaching and operations support program. By analyzing the existing processes, BHS Corrugated identified targeted areas for improvement. Through the coaching and support provided by BHS Corrugated, demonstrable productivity improvements were achieved together with the customer:
- Reduction of process-related stops of the corrugator by 33% within four months
- Increase in production speed by around 6%
- Reduction of waste at the Dry End by 22
- Reduction of the complaint rate (int. & ext. cumulative) by around 33
- Increase in absolute production volume by around 9%
- Flexible use of BHS Corrugated Operations Coaches to bridge short-term staff shortages and maintain production planning.
The partnership between the customer and BHS Corrugated has shown how targeted operations coaching and support, together with the long-standing successful M2P® model, can sustainably improve production processes within a short period of time and achieve demonstrable results. By increasing technical availability, reducing corrugator stoppages, increasing production speed and reducing waste and complaints, the customer was able to further strengthen its competitiveness and ensure long-term success.
